Midnight Mass Stars Talk Bringing Fanatical Figures to Life for the Netflix Series
A key component of all of filmmaker Mike Flanagan's stories is that, while there's surely some unsettling and otherworldly horrors that characters face, there's also a fair share of emotional horror that the characters must endure before grappling with unearthly forces. When it comes to Midnight Mass, one of the more intense elements is the dangerous devotion to faith and the impact that can have on a community as demonstrated by the antagonists, depicting the negative effects of what is intended to bring positivity to one's life. Key figures in this component of the narrative are Hamish Linklater's and Samantha Sloyan's characters, with the performers weighing in on the process of bringing their characters to life. All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are now streaming on Netflix.
"It took a lot of preparation but I was super stoked for those days to get there," Linklater detailed to ComicBook.com of having to perform impassioned sermons as Father Paul. "It really felt like, 'Wonderful, it's finally game day.' Also, getting to have an audience, too. I grew up in a theater company and sometimes it doesn't really feel like a day at work when you're audience is just that little camera, and then I got that whole big room full of folks. I get really excited for those days."
From The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan, Midnight Mass tells the tale of a small, isolated island community whose existing divisions are amplified by the return of a disgraced young man (Zach Gilford) and the arrival of a charismatic priest (Hamish Linklater). When Father Paul's appearance on Crockett Island coincides with unexplained and seemingly miraculous events, a renewed religious fervor takes hold of the community -- but do these miracles come at a price?
No one believes in Father Paul as much as Sloyan's Bev Keane, whose blind faith and misguided fanaticism is something the world has been witnessing prominently over the past 18 months in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The actor noted that, while it was helpful to see real-life figures display their unwavering devotion, it also took a toll having to embody someone with a dangerous perspective.
"I think it was probably right down the middle of those things, but for me, what it helped with was this desire we all have to be right, to be believing in the right thing, to not have made a mistake," Sloyan pointed out of reality mirroring her character. "In Bev's case, somehow winning something that's really unwinnable. And that's really where I put my focus on Bev, that she has to believe herself and has to believe what she believes and nothing's going to shake that."
All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are now streaming on Netflix.
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